21 tracks of fuzzy downtempo bliss, punctuated by finely sliced and diced snippets of Hall and Oates, Julee Cruise, reggae and bangra samples, with cameos by Cobblestone keyboardist Danuel Tate and fire-spittin’ emcee Ishkan.
JULES CHAZ
Toppings…
Release date: September 14, 2010
Label: Wagon Repair
***Free download of CD track “Blak Lodge”***
Hip Hop purists, make room in your crates under “Baroque/Blunted Beats” for Jules Chaz. You may have never heard of him and Google certainly won’t help, but the man’s street cred weighs a ton. After playing in various bands around British Columbia, cruising around the world on a ship and supporting the celebrated Cobblestone Jazz crew over the last 15 years, one of Canada’s hardest working and most talented DJs, musicians and producers has finally stepped up to release a CD under his own name.

Making up for lost time, Jules Chaz’s eagerly-anticipated debut “Toppings” on Wagon Repair drops in the fall and features 21 tracks of fuzzy downtempo bliss, punctuated by finely sliced and diced snippets of Hall and Oates, Julee Cruise (“Blak Lodge”), reggae and bangra (“Saysumthin”) samples, with cameos by Cobblestone keyboardist Danuel Tate (“Yes I Do”) and fire-spittin’ emcee Ishkan (“Could Happen”). Handcrafted at home, while his five year-old son slept, and at a decked-out studio he shares with Tate, the album represents Chaz’s favorite work from the last few years, what he considers to be the jazz of today. Perhaps confounding critics and marketers who would simply file him under “Laptop Hip Hop”, he clarifies, “I like screwing with analog gear. I don’t use a laptop. The guys in LA are more electro and laptop-ish but this fits right in there.”

Lending support to Chaz’s conquest of the alternative Hip Hop scene is none other than Moka Only, perhaps Canada’s premier beat maker and emcee. Moka included him on his recent Martian Xmas compilation and doesn’t mince words when it comes to praising Chaz, even though they only met in December 2009. Early support has also come from king-making internationalist Gilles Peterson, who has played “Yes I Do” on his BBC radio show. The most significant support naturally comes from Wagon Repair, a record label better known for its quirky techno. The shift towards Hip Hop testifies to their confidence in Jules Chaz. After all, the man has created over 300 tracks to date and his prolific output shows no sign of waning.

Presently, Chaz can be found holding down a selector residency every other Sunday at Tyger Dhula’s Mint lounge in Victoria while working on more material and plotting a tour. “I would include some more reggae stuff, maybe bring DJ Nature Boy from my neighborhood who can toast. I really want to work with more Jamaican vocals over some dirty beats.” Curious tastemakers, don’t sleep. Now that Jules Chaz has emerged into the limelight, he is not retreating into the shadows anytime soon. “I’ve already got two albums worth of material ready. Now that this is coming out I want to be on fire.”